It Doesn't Matter
by moonlite-n-roses
Summary: He came over, professed his love and left the following morning, claiming it was a mistake. Can Tommy overcome his fears to understand that he was right the first time. They really don't matter, because he loves her. Will she give him a second chance?
1. Lost

**Disclaimer:** Don't own PR, that would be Disney, I just play with the characters.

**Title:** It Doesn't Matter

* * *

She waited until the door shut and then sank down along the wall, bringing her knees up to her chest. She buried her head in her arms and her body began to shake, the sobs she had fought back while he was there had finally broken through her walls. Why had she let him in last night? Why didn't she tell him to go home when she smelt the alcohol on his breath? "Stupid, stupid…"

You know why you let him in, the treacherous part of herself spoke up. After all those years he finally came to you, finally told you everything you'd been dying to hear. Those words she thought she would never hear on his lips, he'd finally spoken to her, he'd finally told her.

You lie, once again, that treacherous part of herself decided to make its thoughts known. You love him. You wouldn't be acting like this if you didn't.

She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts as she finally pushed herself up off the floor. "I can't believe I was so stupid," she whispered as she headed for her bedroom. All the defenses she had, all the walls she put up; it only took one person to cause them to tumble. Only one person could make her weak in the knees with a smile; her head spin with a brush of his lips. She hated him, hated him almost as much as she loved him.

"I need to get out of here," she grabbed her keys and her purse. As she headed for the door her attention wandered to the couch, and she stopped, staring at it, her thoughts drifting to the night before, to the kisses shared, the words whispered in the heat of passion. She shook her head angrily, I'll toss it out tomorrow, she thought as she headed out the door, slamming it shut behind her.

* * *

Kim responded to the torrent of knocking on her door and took a step back as she stared up at the person before her. He looked disheveled, and undeniably miserable. "My god you look like hell," she said moving to the side to allow him in. "What happen to you Tommy?" She asked softly as he walked past her. As she followed him into the kitchen, she noticed the slight shaking in his hands, and bit her lip, something was seriously bothering him.

As Tommy sat down at the kitchen table he ran a hand over his hair, frowning slightly. "I need a hair cut," he murmured more to himself than to one of his oldest and dearest friends.

"Tommy?" Kim poured him a cup of coffee and set it down in front of him before taking a seat across from him. "Focus," she said after a few minutes passed and she received no response from him. "What happened?"

"I slept with Hayley last night," he mumbled, looking down at his coffee cup as if it were a foreign object he'd never seen before. "I told her I loved her," he added, looking up at Kim to see her staring at him as if had suddenly sprouted a second head.

Kim's jaw dropped and she continued to stare at him, "Tommy, why are you here…" she looked at her watch, "at eleven in the morning instead of with her if you just last night admitted you were in love with her…finally," she felt compelled to add.

"I left…" he said, looking down again, avoiding her gaze. He didn't even hear the other chair move nor did he have time to react before he heard a resounding _CRACK_ and felt his cheek burning as if it were on fire. He looked up to find Kim standing over him, glaring down at him, her eyes burning with carefully controlled anger. "What…"

"You left! You just walked out on her after telling her you loved her! Thomas Oliver, what in the name of all things holy were you thinking," Kim yelled, ignoring the fact Tommy was wincing in pain at the octave she was yelling in. She couldn't believe that he would do something like that.

"I wasn't thinking Kim!" Tommy cut in as Kim took a breath, hoping to cut off any more of her tirade. "I was drunk alright! I was drunk and I went over to her house, and I stupidly told her how I felt about her! I woke up, realized what I'd done... and told her I shouldn't have come over," he ducked when he saw her hand swinging downward again. "Kim I can't be with her!"

"Why!"

"Think about it Kim," Tommy said rationally. "I can't be with her because, well…" he took a deep breath, "because she's not…"

"So help me God Tommy, if you say because she's not me… or not Kat, I'm going to do more than slap you upside the head," Kim threatened hotly. She couldn't believe what a monumental idiot Tommy was being at the moment. She could only wonder what Hayley was going through, and she felt a pang of sympathy towards her friend.

"No! I wasn't going to say that," Tommy said quickly, moving his chair back out of range of her arms. "I swear. Just… look at you and Jason, Kat and Rocky, Trini and Zack, Andros and Ashley, Kira and Trent…"

"Tommy!!" Kim practically groaned, "Skip the list of all of our friends and get to the point!"

"She's not a ranger," Tommy said with a sigh, running a hand over his face. Why did I come here again, he asked himself, wincing as he felt the swelling on his cheek, where her hand had connected. He looked up at Kim and saw her gaping at him. "What?"

"You can't be with her because she's not a ranger? Are you insane?" She asked, as she began pacing in front of him. "Tommy! Out of the few select people that know about our lives as rangers, Hayley is the closest to an actually ranger," Kim reminded him, rolling her eyes at his reasoning. "Besides, Tanya's not with a ranger neither is Billy, what about Justin huh…" she fired back.

"What are the odds that any of them will get called back to active ranger duty though?" Tommy pointed out. "I can't put Hayley in danger," he said bouncing his leg nervously. The thought of something happening to her, it nearly killed him.

"Oh…" Kim turned to face him, glaring at him, "Tommy! Who drove that damn trailer to Mesogog's lair? Hayley did! She was in as much danger then as she ever would be with you now. Now quit giving me bullshit and give me the real reason you're acting like a coward." She planted herself in front of him, effectively trapping him in the chair. She wasn't going to let him up until she got an answer.

Tommy's leg was still bouncing unconsciously. He looked up at her, all the fight gone from his body. "She sees me," he said so quietly that Kim had to strain to hear him.

"What? What do you mean Tommy?"

He sighed, "You saw me as your white knight. Your knight on a white tiger," he said with a small smile. "Kat saw me as a kindred spirit, someone who overcame evil and fought for the side of good. I understood her fears, her insecurities, because I went through the same thing. You both saw me as the perfect guy. Hayley, she sees everything, the good, the bad, even the ugly, and yet she still loves me. Hayley knows I'm far from perfect, but it doesn't matter to her," he looked down at his hands.

"Oh Tommy," Kim sighed and sank down onto her knees and took his hands in her own.

"With you guys, I was scared to be anything less than a dream guy. For all my faults, I couldn't stand the thought of letting either one of you down," Tommy said quietly, squeezing Kim's hands.

"And with Hayley?" She asked, looking up at him. She was surprised to know that he felt that way. The fear of letting her down, letting Kat down, of being anything less than perfect for both of them. She wished she had known that all those years ago.

"Hayley's seen me at my worst, and she's stood by me. She knows I'm not perfect, she doesn't want me to be perfect either," he met her eyes and bit on his lip.

Kim stood up and pulled him to his feet, "Go" she said pushing him toward the door.

"What? Where?" Tommy asked by the sudden change in her.

"What do you mean where? Go after her Tommy! You love her, she loves you. That's all that matters! Go now, before it's too late, and you loose not only her love, but her friendship too," Kim said sagely, shoving him out the door. He turned to her and she shook her head, "No, stop being stupid, you have a PhD there's no excuse for it now, so go!" she said shutting the door in his face.

Tommy turned around walked to his jeep, leaning against it, contemplating everything that had happened in the last twenty four hours. He'd had her; he'd lost her, now he just needed to find her. He needed to make her see what a monumental idiot he was. He jumped in his jeep and speed off, hoping that he knew her as well as he thought he did. There was only once place she went when she was sad, depressed, or homicidally upset. He only hoped, as he headed for the costal highway, that she wasn't the third.

**

* * *

Author's Note: **This is a deviation out of my normal stories I know, but the plot bunny has been biting my ankle for a few days now. Part 2 is already partially written, and will be posted in the next few days. Please let me know what you think. I always appreciate your reviews. 


	2. Found

Tommy turned off the lights of his jeep as he pulled up to the desolate cliff. This was a place he remembered well. Hayley and taken him here many times during their college days to just unwind and get away from everything. 'It's peaceful here, a good place to think about everything and nothing,' she'd told him the first time she dragged him out here.

As he walked towards the edge of the cliff, he saw a silhouette sitting near the edge, nothing but a dark shadow, but he still knew it was her. She always sat right on the edge and it always unnerved him. Even now, he wanted to run over to her and pull her away from the edge, fearful of her slipping down onto the sharp rocks below. He forced himself to stay calm and walked up to her. "Why do you love me?" He asked softly, knowing his voice would carry to her on the wind.

Hayley stood up without even glancing back at him, "I don't," she said sharply, turning around without meeting his eyes and attempting to push past him.

Tommy grabbed her arm as she walked past and held on to it gently, "Hayley." It was barely a whisper, but the emotions carried in his voice spoke volumes.

Hayley wiped around and glared at him, her eyes blazing with an abundance of emotions. Fear, anger, love, rage, all swirled around in her head as she took a deep breath. "Because you're not perfect!" She exclaimed, all of that pent up emotion bursting forth at once, "You're always late, for _everything_, but it doesn't matter because you know it and at least you try. You can never do up your tie right, but you look so cute trying to get it right. You forget things all the time, but you remember before it's too late and you can make it right. You are forgetful, late, and surprisingly clumsy, but you are the sweetest man I've ever met, regardless if your temper. You have a heart of gold, even if you forget that too," she stopped, turning away from him, unable to believe all that just came out of her mouth.

"Hayley…"

"When you first met me, you saw me, all of me," she said so softly that Tommy had to move closer to hear what she was saying. "You didn't see just a pale, redheaded Goth, you didn't just see a brainy geek, you didn't only see a perfect little genius; you just saw me. Plain old nosey Hayley, who was kicked your ass in Calc and liked to wear black," she said wrapping her arms around herself as the wind picked up slightly. "Why are you doing this to me?" She asked turning to face him again. "It doesn't matter anymore." She closed her eyes, chastising herself for letting it all out, for telling him how she felt, for rubbing salt in an already stinging wound.

"I'm scared Hayley," Tommy said walking up to her and cupping her tearstained cheek. "I don't need to be anybody but myself for you. But I'm scared that one day you are going to wake up and realize that for everything you just said, I'm not good enough for you. I'm scared you're going to see that my faults outweigh my virtues," she tried to pull away from him but he wouldn't let her go. "Most of all, I'm scared that I'm going to let go, and you're going to walk away and never give me the chance to prove that I meant what I said last night. The past, it doesn't matter, everything I said before, it doesn't matter, I love you, that's the only thing that matter. It's true Hayley, I love you," he bit his lip nervously as he watched her taking in everything he'd just said.

"Don't…" she whispered, tears spilling down her cheeks as she leaned into his touch.

"Don't what?" He asked, starting to move his hand away only to find her hand trapping his there against her cheek.

"Don't let go…" She looked into his eyes, her heart racing after everything that had been said, after once again, this time without the aid of alcohol, hearing what she'd never thought she would actually hear. "Don't ever let go."

* * *

**Author's Note:** The End! Its short I know, but I had every intention of originally make thing this a one shot; it just didn't work out that way. So consider it a one and a half shot. 


End file.
